Do you know what's really annoying? When, as much as you wish you were in such a deep sleep that you can't feel or hear a thing, you're actually waking up.

I usually get over this relatively quickly, hearing my roommates getting ready for lessons while I stay in bed, waiting for the inevitable silence to lure me back to bliss, or sleep - it always does if I wait long enough. After six school years of sharing a dorm with the same people, it's safe to say I've gotten used to their noisy routines, just as they've gotten used to my inability to get up willingly (I seriously cannot explain how I managed to actually do that for the last three days! I actually think they're grateful that the world has been set right).

So, what's annoying this morning is the constant stab of something being pushed into my side. Whoever you are; cut it out!

I'd tell them this, but I'm sleeping... Mostly.

"Do you have a death wish?"

Wise words, what's-your-name. Drill them into him of you have to... Yes, I do hear everything.

"Lucy said to do whatever means necessary or he won't wake up."

I take back what I said yesterday. I don't love her, I hate her. I hate all Weasleys. There is no place for them in my life, they need to go away. Or, as there's only one by my bed, he needs to go away. Now. I groan and bury my head under my blanket.

"Come on, K -" He stops before he can finish that horrible non-name, therefore he lives another day. "Hey, what's his name?"

Wait for it. "We can't tell you that; he swore us to secrecy. He says you have to figure it out."

"And you are listening to him?"

We're getting there. "Yes."

"Why?"

"We don't have a death wish." There it is. It's so good to know I have my dorm mates on my side, life threatening not included (not from me; they just still remember what Jack did to Tyler in second year. Which is a story for another day). I swear if you moved my blanket out of the way you'd see a smile on my mostly sleeping face.

"Well, what am I meant to call him then?"

"The point of his game is for you to focus on figuring out his name, not figuring out what to call him now," what's-his-face laughs. I think it's Declan, go Declan. "This is his thing; his games. If you don't play, he'll only make it harder." I hear a pat. "Good luck, Weasley."

"Fine," he mutters. "I'll play." I don't hear anything more; everyone else must have left already. I know he's still in the room, though; I can smell him. He throws something in the air, it bounces in his hand when he catches it, and I'm being poked in the side again. Only this time it's getting higher; my side, one rib, another, another, my arm... He pulls back, removes my blanket from my face and upper back. I feel a chill. "Lucy said whatever means necessary, so believe me when I say I can do this for a while." Another prod, on my back this time, from something plastic. Hold on, he is using my own cane against me. What an ass!

He pulls back, I count, and I hear him move... I reach out and grab it, yanking it from his grasp and dropping it to the ground. It rolls under the bed. "Amazing reflexes," he says, awed apparently. "How'd you do that?"

Seriously, did he really think he was the first to poke me with my cane? I got used to it. More importantly, I learned from it. I turn my head from his direction to the windows. Come back, sleep. Quickly!

"Oh, no, you don't!" The whole blanket is gone and it's so cold, I jump up from my bed. I sit on my knees, my arms around my bare chest. I glare in his general direction. "Good morning," he calls out enthusiastically, and then he whistles. Why is he whistling like that?

I shiver involuntarily, saying nothing; I should have known Lucy would have got to him. This is what I get for choosing to sleep in just my underwear.

Oh, crap! He can see me in my underwear!

I am at such a disadvantage, not being able to see to find my blanket again. I uncross my legs and jump off my bed quickly. Though potentially hazardous, I'm jumping anyway. I push past him, or try to - he must have moved out of the way - glaring the whole time while on my way to the bathroom. I've already got my toothbrush in hand and to my lips when I curse the fact that I left my uniform on the top of my trunk and have to go back out there like this. For his sake, he had better be gone.

I brush my teeth and wash my face at a slightly slower pace than I normally do; I'm obviously not as late as usual. Besides, I can tell from what Lucy's told me that he won't come banging on the door demanding I hurry up like Jack. But he also won't leave me like Lucy. I hope he's a bit of both and is waiting in the common room, I can handle that.

But something tells me he's still there when I open the door; that 'I'm being watched' feeling is back. I manage to ignore it the whole way to my bed; I get my uniform from the lid of my trunk and pull out clean underwear before I stop everything. There are many things I will do and many things won't do in front of people - taking off my underwear is definitely one of the things I will not do.

"Are you seriously going to watch me get dressed?" I ask, not bothering to turn around.

"No," he says quietly. I hear him getting off Jack's bed; the one on my left, closest to the door. He moves to stand right behind me, his chest pressed to my back - I really hope he didn't just hear that deep intake of breath - and he drops something on my bed. My cane. "I was just making sure you weren't going to fall back asleep. I'll be waiting in the common room."

The moment he's gone, I fall forward on top of my uniform and groan into my shirt. Why me?

I dress relatively quickly, pick up my cane and head down to the common room. I'm not exactly looking forward to this, so I want it over and done with as quickly as possible. Since I can't use magic to make time go faster, I hope speeding through the day myself will help instead. But he stops me at the portrait door. Yeah, he's not helping.

His hands go to my shirt. "What are you doing?" I ask quickly, about to move away.

"Relax," he laughs. "You unbuttoned the top buttons wrong."

I stay completely still while he's touching me, trying not to hold my breath and keep it even instead, and the moment he moves back I run my hand over my shirt; it's smooth, bump-free and buttoned right with the top still open. The way I like it. "Thanks," I mutter. I’m not used to other people touching me. "We can go now."

The door opens and I step out first. "Right," he says quietly. "After you."

Considering I already did that, I assume it's sarcasm he didn't want me to hear. So, I just ignore him and walk away, my cane at the back of my neck and my arms over it so it doesn't fall. "Do you actually use that?"

"...Yes." I do, just not in the way you're normally meant to. Except for when I need to at home of course. "You don't have to fill the silences with random small talk, you know."

"I want to talk to you," he tells me, sounding slightly disappointed. Is it because of what I said? Does he think I don't want to talk to him? I was only putting out there just in case, not that I really know what to say to him; he's only here because of Lucy after all. "I can't believe that you've been friends with Lucy for so long and we haven't spoken, because I talk to Lucy all the time."

"Well, me and Jack have to go to the library to our tutor after classes and we're there for a while. Lucy has her own work to do and all, so we don't see each other again until dinner, then the common room. Hence why people didn't think we were friends for a while. Which begs the question; why do they think we are dating?"

I have to know.

"I don't know." Louis Weasley, he's just so helpful. Not.

I remove my cane from my neck to swing it lightly in my hands; my arms are starting to hurt. Louis guides me into the Great Hall to Hufflepuff's table and the first thing I grab is a piece of toast. I don't want to stay here; I want to get to class.

"Morning, boys."

"Morning, Lucy," he replies.

"Bye, Lucy." I glare and walk away.

"Any trouble?" I hear her ask.

Do you know what he replies with? "Nothing I couldn't handle."

Dick.

Yeah, I went there. Nothing he couldn't handle? Ha. If he could've handled the 'wake me up' situation, he wouldn't have stooped so low as to actually take my blanket away. I must add to his punishment, something suitable for his crime. I'll come up with something in Charms while my quill takes my notes and he has to write. Yeah…

I'm almost out of the door, wishing I'd picked up another piece of toast because I'm almost finished and still hungry, when the devil catches up to me. I can't believe Lucy thinks he's nice and helpful, well maybe I could if he weren't related to her; she corrupted him from a young age. "Here," he says softly, placing a napkin in my hands. A napkin filled with... Toast!

You know, I might just be able to forgive him for this morning, pin it all on Lucy's influence and punish her instead. "Lucy told me to give it to you."

Or maybe not. And here I thought he'd taken initiative, but no, he listened to her. He's digging himself a hole he can't escape from, he really is. "Thank you," I reply, taking a huge bite. I'm so hungry and I'm a growing boy. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, don't judge me.

Jack thinks I eat too much toast, that it's an addiction. He's one to talk; his need to throw himself off things for leisure is an addiction. One I'd rather not live with, I'll stick to toast thank you very much.

"Are you always thinking?"

"My brain never shuts up," I tell him, slightly thrown by his question.

"What are you thinking about?"

I'm mostly honest with my answer, which I give him just before I enter the classroom, breakfast finished. "Toast."

I make my way to my seat, always at the back so I can leave quickly with little interruption, and he sits in Jack's usual seat. I hold back a sigh; I miss Jack. It's just not the same without him, to not hear his jokes in my ear and comments about people which my quill picks up and writes down. I've lost track of the comments Abby has given us about reading his words in my notes. We shouldn't make up stories about other people apparently. Personally, I think What's Their Story is a cool game. I wonder if Louis has ever played that game, or is he too nice?

This could get boring...

I pull everything I need out of my bag and hear Louis do the same. Once everything is sorted, I resume my usual position; arms folded over the desk, chin rested on top, eyes closed.

Eyes open. I turn to the left, to the devil who just elbowed me in the arm. "Do you always sleep in lesson?"

"I don't sleep, I focus on the teacher's voice so I understand the lesson and can fill in any blanks my quill might have missed," I tell him. It's only a half-lie; I never intend on falling asleep, sometimes it just happens.

"Your quill?" As if on cue, the lesson starts and the teacher is speaking; the quill moves across the parchment, taking the notes which Abby will turn to Braille.

"That is so not fair," he whispers. He continues to mutter about that and I hope that it’s quiet enough for my quill to not pick it up. I don't mind my quill picking up any conversations, but it's at least got to be interesting.

"Why do you not know who I am?" I ask quietly. I've been wondering this since last night, but I ask mostly to change the subject and distract him from whatever he's saying.

"My family say I live in my own little bubble," he replies, a small laugh escaping his lips. "Maybe they're right; I'm not the most sociable of people. I'm usually in my common room or the library or with Lucy, who only calls you Key, or the -" he stops suddenly before continuing. "Around."

Around? Ha. I believe that, probably not the way he meant it, but still... Remember when I said I hear everything? It's so true... I raise an eye-brow, I'm curious as to what he actually means now and that doesn't often happen. But he carries on speaking before I can ask anything. "I don't let people gossip when I'm tutoring them, so they don't talk about others, and when I do hear about you they call you Key. Lucy's influence, I assume considering you hate it and it's really only Lucy they can talk to. From what she said, you and Jackson rarely leave the other's side. This is a first. You must miss him."

Correctly deduced. A Ravenclaw through and through. "I do, he's like my brother."

"I miss my brother," Louis whispers. Ah, the boy with the girl’s name. Not my words. Okay, not just my words. "He was in Ravenclaw, too. He's like my best friend and I don't know what to do now he's graduated. It feels lonely now, like I have no one, even though I have cousins here. But they're not Dom, you know."

The professor came our way then and we shut up quickly, silent for the rest of the lesson. But I walked out of the classroom feeling like I had more in common with the man by my side than I previously thought.